RNP Page 105
Page 105
Meanwhile, Yang Hao was wandering around the city of United City. This time, his protectors were not plainclothes guards, but Ms. Sonia.
Ms. Sonia had nothing to do lately, so when Yang Hao invited her to stroll around United City and protect him, she readily agreed. After letting the four juniors have their own time, Ms. Sonia dressed casually, changed her clothes, put down her usual meat saw, picked up a dagger, and followed Yang Hao to this city full of Colombian style, curiously wandering around.
"I thought that as the matriarch of the deep-sea hunters, you must have seen quite a few cities."
“Mr. Yang Hao, do you have some misunderstanding about us deep-sea hunters? Hehe, under normal circumstances, most deep-sea hunters have never even seen an inland city... I have seen one or two, but it was just by chance.” Ms. Sonia shook her head with a smile. “Even though I have lived for decades, it is still the same—on the coast, I am an experienced clan matriarch. But inland, I am just a curious child.”
“I see… But speaking of which, it seems your companion Rabi has already arrived at Kos village with our workers and your juniors.”
"That would be best. Sir, may I inquire about the current situation of the village?"
"Ah, thankfully. Your people are almost finished with the coastal reclamation—although it's just a platform about ten centimeters above sea level, once they continue laying the ground and building defensive structures... the coast should be safer."
While Yang Hao was planning to obtain the classified information about the United City, another group of Deepsea Hunters, along with their juniors and infected workers from the Duke of Kosichä, were about to arrive at the location of Kos Village.
Moreover, the deep-sea hunters remaining in Kos Village were also carrying out the land reclamation work in an orderly manner under Yang Hao's [Puppet Stage]. Their work was progressing quickly, and Yang Hao optimistically estimated that in the time it took for Rabi and the others to arrive at the scene, the deep-sea hunters could raise the coastal land by another ten centimeters.
However, land reclamation was only the foundation of Yang Hao's plan. The workers could only proceed with further work after arriving at the village of Kos—what could be more enjoyable than placing barbed wire along the only climbing route along the coast? Of course! That was to fill the area with harpoon turrets and roadblocks.
While these facilities may not have a significant impact on large deep-sea monsters, they are sufficient to stop smaller monsters from advancing.
...However, only Yang Hao knows these things right now. Ms. Sonia is far from her homeland and doesn't have Yang Hao's [Puppet Stage]. Although she can use her prophetic abilities to know about future changes, if possible, she still hopes to see or hear about the changes in her hometown herself—so she is very happy that Yang Hao is willing to explain the changes there to her.
"That's wonderful... Phew... But, sir, with you using your ability so frequently, don't you feel... the side effects are severe?" Ms. Sonia first smiled gently, expressing her joy to Yang Hao. Then she began to worry about Yang Hao's health—after all, in her understanding, such a powerful ability should be accompanied by strong side effects. Yang Hao activates [Puppet Stage] several times a day; according to her understanding, the side effects should have accumulated to an irreversible point by now, right?
"Huh? Side effects? No, none at all. The only side effect at first might have been a headache, but now, there's nothing." He shrugged, indicating that it wasn't something to worry about, and he also figured out why he had headaches before: "Besides, I had headaches before because I overthought things—back then, I wanted to plan out exactly when everyone would poop. Now you understand why I had headaches, right?"
"...Hehe. As expected of you, Master Puppet Master."
“I’m not a puppeteer. Sigh... Let’s go take a look over there—it’s close to the administrative center, I might be able to find something there.”
Yang Hao led Ms. Sonia to a plaza not far from the administrative center of the United City. Dressed in well-disguised civilian clothes, they had no need to worry about being recognized. Moreover, Yang Hao's purpose in coming here, besides seeing if he could trigger an [event], was more importantly because Monica was currently working diligently there.
She had to find the mirror leading to the hidden room among a large number of mirrors, and then try to copy down all the information inside—it was truly a difficult task for this dutiful and trustworthy head maid. Sigh... Yang Hao didn't know how to repay her efforts in the future. After thinking it over, perhaps the only thing he could do was to give her more care and attention?
But after a while, Theresa also plans to exchange her reward for a [date]... and after His Majesty the Emperor of Ursus asked her to go to Saint-Strong Fortress, there must be other things to do besides burning down the council... She's been really busy lately. In every sense of the word.
He sighed, led Ms. Sonia to a nearby bench, straightened his clothes to keep her alert, and began browsing the [Puppet Stage] interface to see where Monica was.
......
Monica was currently on the roof of the administration building not far behind him... or rather, in a small compartment on the roof. It appeared to be a completely sealed room that could only be opened via a mechanism, where Monica was diligently searching for the classified information Yang Hao needed—more precisely, classified evidence.
And thanks to Monica's previous wandering around the administration building, Yang Hao now had a structural map of the building's interior. Through the map, Yang Hao noticed some very strange things.
[Important Prisoner Confinement Cells] These cells are located on the second to third basement levels of the administration building. According to the room descriptions, they hold [important prisoners or witnesses that the United City does not want to be discovered by others]... In other words, the prisoners inside possess extremely important information.
However, on another note, among these important prisoners, Yang Hao noticed something amiss with one of them...
"That seems to have taken up space that was originally in his left kidney... a box that was implanted intentionally?" He frowned. "And this prisoner has received [too much attention]... not to mention the life support devices... this room should be the safest room, right?"
"gentlemen?"
"It's nothing...we can go now."
...
Yang Hao left the city of United City with satisfaction, not for any other reason than that he had actually triggered a very crucial event. This event could ensure the possibility of obtaining classified information through theft if Koschie was unable to trade intelligence with United City.
[Event: Belly Full]
A state government official imprisoned by the United City military government is clearly hiding something. What he's carrying is most likely related to so-called "classified intelligence"—but that still leaves a mystery. Who knows if the safe inside him only contains a banana?
However, your maid might be able to figure out what's inside... But it must be made clear that the box inside the prisoner's stomach is a vital tool for maintaining his life, and the prisoner himself might be a crucial "witness," so if possible, it would be better to spare his life.
'What I want is what's inside him; whether he lives or dies is irrelevant.'
Just kidding, people still need to try their best to stay alive...
He nodded, intending to go back and explain his new discovery to Kosiché.
Chapter 226
...
Still in the Imperial Diet.
At this moment, Her Majesty Catherine was neither sad nor happy. She rested her chin on her hand and looked expressionlessly at the arguing councilors below.
She felt they were insects, maggots that could be found everywhere—although they would be disgusting at first glance, when she learned that the special medicine to get rid of them was already on its way and they would die without a burial place in a few days, that disgust turned into a calm feeling of "it doesn't matter".
Therefore... His Majesty the Emperor has now completely calmed down, and is just watching the councilors display their ugly sides with boredom, watching their faces turn red with anger as they roar and howl.
Sigh... I wish I could take out my phone right now and secretly check if any messages have been sent—even just to kill some time would be fine.
Her Majesty the Emperor sighed softly. She glanced at the enormous clock hanging on the wall of the Imperial Council and, realizing there was still some time before the recess at 11:00 AM, sighed again and began to ponder what to do next.
Yang Hao sent her a text message yesterday, hoping she could buy him as much time as possible to obtain a key item that could benefit Ursus for decades ahead of schedule. Although Her Majesty the Emperor didn't mind trusting him, without seeing evidence, she still doubted the existence of such a thing, and naturally couldn't concentrate all her efforts on his actions.
Ekaterina could only offer Yang Hao, the man she was going to abduct in the future, a little support... perhaps the assistance of a few guards, or perhaps a small amount of resources from the imperial treasury given the current scarcity. But if he wanted her and the entire Ursus Empire's full support—he had to produce evidence proving that this thing could bring the Ursus Empire enormous benefits after clearing the council and ending the civil war.
...She was now considering what kind of support would be appropriate for him later. But soon, another disturbance in the council made her frown and had to look up to see what was going on.
"Silence, silence!"
The incompetent speaker was trying to quiet the members of parliament. Her Majesty Catherine looked over and saw that the disturbance was caused by members of parliament who had been identified as supporters of the Maslenitsa nightclub.
They huddled together, their voices ringing out the slogan, "Resign Duke Kosiché!" The fervor in their eyes as they looked at Catherine gave her a premonition that if she were to announce the Empire's independence from the Parliament and the Emperor's absolute rule, these councilors would instantly rebel.
They no longer respected imperial power, nor did they value capable or meritorious officials. These filthy maggots, shameless vermin... Catherine chuckled maliciously, thinking she should know what the first thing to do was.
Her Majesty Catherine stood up, looked directly into the eyes of the group of madmen, and said in a loud voice, word by word:
"...I hereby declare—in the name of myself, the Emperor of Ursus, that the Imperial Council shall be adjourned for ten days without any conditions."
The scene erupted in uproar, and everyone fell silent in an instant, staring blankly at His Majesty the Emperor.
For no other reason than that she had exercised her right—the right to unconditionally force the Imperial Diet to adjourn for ten days. Although this right could only be used once a year, it truly struck at the heart of the Imperial Diet's Achilles' heel. Unless they changed the constitution, Her Majesty Catherine's "unilateral decision" this time was entirely legal and reasonable, and the Diet had no choice but to abide by it.
But—the Duke of Kosice is sending a representative in a couple of days! This sudden adjournment… well… even if he comes, he doesn't have to appear in court. If he doesn't appear, how are we supposed to try them, how are we supposed to punish them?
Naturally, the Imperial Council erupted into chaos the next moment. Having exercised her power, Empress Catherine showed no intention of lingering to continue the wrangling, and simply left with her personal guards, right before the stunned Imperial Speaker's eyes.
She had to hurry back and tell Duke Kosiché the news, and at the same time, she had to ask Yang Hao if there had been any progress in his matter, and whether he could produce any evidence.
...... ......
Meanwhile, Yang Hao, having already returned home, was sitting on his throne in the audience hall, gently stroking Duke Koschche's playful tail while explaining his new discoveries to her. Monica hadn't returned yet; considering that the secret room might still hold a lot of important information that could be used, Yang Hao decided to let her continue working on it.
Since Monica hadn't returned yet, Ms. Sonia was temporarily replacing her in the audience hall to represent the two adults. She wasn't very experienced in these matters, but as long as she could serve water and occasionally chat about her discoveries made through prophecy, it was quite nice.
"In short, are you sure that prisoner with the belly is our target?"
“Yes. But that box is vital to the prisoner’s life, and there are life support tools in his room—considering this prisoner is also a witness, I personally suggest we don’t forcibly remove it from his stomach.” Yang Hao pinched the end of Koschei’s tail, and under Ms. Sonia’s strange gaze, he reluctantly wrapped his wife’s tail around his wrist. “Let’s trade if we can—after all, having a witness, a witness from Colombia, makes it more legitimate for us to do the Kasimir people a favor.”
“Then we’ll do as you say. But then again… what if we really have to steal the contents of his body directly? I suspect the safe inside his stomach is a self-destructing device. That kind of thing is difficult to deal with; we might need a highly skilled surgeon, as well as a master of Originium Arts.”
"A master of Originium Arts...is there such a thing?"
“We do have some in our territory. But skilled surgeons? They’re a rare breed all over the world… Sigh, what should we do?” Kosicie wrinkled his nose, then sighed heavily, leaning on Yang Hao’s shoulder, asking him for a solution. “My husband, do you have any good ideas? Even with my connections, I can’t find a good enough doctor right now.”
"...I can't help it either?"
"Then that's the only way. Just find any trained doctor to handle it—as long as the person stays alive before the box is opened."
...
They reached a conclusion, and then both let out a heavy sigh.
Meanwhile, a green-haired doctor holding an invitation to the Duchy of Koschei was traveling to the Duchy of Koschei on a caravan's landship. She was puzzled as to how the invitation had ended up in her possession and decided to come and see what was going on.
Chapter 227
...
Just as Yang Hao suddenly had a strange premonition that "the doctor seems to be on his way," his phone, which was in his pants pocket, suddenly started buzzing. He blinked, took out the phone with his hand, which was still wrapped around Koschie's tail, and saw that the person who had sent him the text message was His Majesty the Emperor.
Her Majesty the Emperor told Yang Hao some great news in simple and easy-to-understand language: she used her power to force Parliament to adjourn for ten days, but in return, Yang Hao had to get to Saint-Germain Castle within those ten days, otherwise she couldn't guarantee that she could help them delay time like this again.
Meanwhile, Her Majesty Catherine was also carefully questioning Yang Hao about the evidence and credibility of "that matter." Without hesitation, Yang Hao sent all the information he knew, along with his predictions and deductions, via text message. He patiently awaited Her Majesty's reply, showing no sign of anxiety.
"what happened?"
Koschke, standing to the side, glanced at Yang Hao's phone. After looking around and realizing that her height was the culprit preventing her from leaning over to watch the phone with him, Koschke was both amused and exasperated.
However, Yang Hao noticed his wife's awkwardness. After placing the phone directly on the armrest connecting their thrones, Yang Hao had Kosiché view the text messages while dictating the Emperor's good news:
"His Majesty the Emperor has bought us ten days. I think that's enough. What about you?"
"...Ten days? Okay. Even disregarding the time it takes to get to Saint-Germain, that's certainly enough." Kosiché nodded, thoughtfully calculating something. "In that case, we can continue to negotiate the price... but there's no need to push it down that much. We can consider turning the United City directly into our [vassal territory]."
"Huh? Didn't they want us to guarantee their military independence?" Yang Hao blinked. The United City wanted their support to guarantee its military independence, but now they've made it a vassal state. Isn't that a bit too harsh?
Faced with her husband's confusion, Kosich simply smiled and said that her husband's experience was still too limited and he needed more time to accumulate knowledge. Sometimes, a vassal state doesn't need to wear its vassal status on its sleeve.
“My dear, we don’t even need to do anything too obvious—with your abilities, my experience, and the arrangements I made in the Ursus Empire before, we can start with the three areas of [industry], [commerce], and most importantly, [economy].
A vassal is a weak entity that can only survive by relying on a powerful entity. Consider this: if we were to monopolize the industrial, commercial, and even economic sectors of a unified city, would forcing them to sign vassal contracts have any impact on the fact that they have become our vassals? Yes, they may appear independent on the surface, but in reality, they have long since become our pets, pets that can only beg for food by following us.
However, I cannot do this alone. No matter how long I live, my experience and knowledge are limited to the history of Ursus. My dear, you have shown me a broader future, but my own ideas are not yet mature enough, and my abilities are insufficient to achieve this goal—so in the end, I'm sorry, I can only rely on you.”
His wife's explanation made Yang Hao understand everything clearly—meaning that the vassal relationship didn't need to be outwardly displayed. As long as the Duchy of Koschche monopolized the fundamental survival of the United City, then the United City becoming a vassal of the Duchy of Koschche was a foregone conclusion.
However, she also said that she needed Yang Hao's help, and this was not entirely her own idea. It was a new idea that came about after her views changed since she met Yang Hao. Yang Hao felt a warmth in his heart at this. If they weren't in the audience hall and Ms. Sonia was watching, he would have already hugged Kosiche, been affectionate with her, and done everything while discussing all the details.
"Well, this is what we agreed on, it's my job." He first patted his wife's hair, then pinched her earlobe, making her blush and utter a faint sound. His hand slowly moved down from her ear, finally settling on her chin. "But you have to tell me to what extent? After all, you know my capabilities. If I mess things up, United City won't be our vassal anymore, but will simply become our territory."
Yang Hao's "Puppet Stage" can satisfy Koschke's needs—but honestly, if those needs are met too excessively, it could easily cause trouble. It's like secretly going out with your girlfriend just to see a movie, but somehow you end up in bed together, and the next day the pregnancy test is positive—I just wanted to develop a relationship, but we're fast-forwarding to marriage... wouldn't it be strange if there weren't any problems?
Therefore, Yang Hao needed Kosiché to specify the appropriate "degree" of control. This would prevent him from overdoing it and accidentally making United City one of the cities of the Kosiché Duchy. In a sense, he even needed to "slack off" for a while, because he possessed a weak claim to United City; in a sense, usurping the position of mayor of United City was now easier and more effortless than climbing into the emperor's bed...
Because of this "weak claim," Yang Hao can directly influence the actions of the United City using political points, including allowing the Duke of Koschie's company to monopolize the city's commercial district. However, political points are still too precious; he needs to think carefully before using them.
"It wouldn't be a problem for it to become our territory. But that would mean we'd have far fewer international interests—having an independent city to stand up for us and resolve international issues that we, the Ursus nobles, can't interfere with would be more beneficial to us than for it to become our territory."
"So you have to tell me where the balance is, okay? I've been so busy lately, I'm worried I might mix up the work on both sides and mess one of them up."
"Hehe... Monica and I will keep a close eye on you."
She laughed and used her tail to pull down the hand that was holding her chin, indicating that her work for the day would be over once Monica returned.
Chapter 228
When Monica returned tonight, she brought the two adults some good news.
"Sirs, I've found this."
Monica frowned as she looked at Ms. Sonia standing beside the couple, wondering why this deep-sea hunter was standing in her place. She then began to explain her findings from the day's work to Lord Yang Hao and Lord Koschche, while also taking out her notes.
"This is?"
"A list. I studied it for a while and found that it might be a list of [important prisoners] held in the United City—one of them, a prisoner known as [Little Bird] who needs to be kept alive by life support devices, is someone I personally think needs to pay attention to."
"Oh, you mean this... Perfect, I was just about to tell you about that."
Yang Hao briefly explained his discovery to Monica, his plan with Koschche, and the good news from His Majesty the Emperor. Monica was initially surprised, then calm, and finally nodded, completely relaxed.
Her performance seemed overly calm, but Monica trusted the two adults far too much. She now believed that as long as they were around, whatever they did was perfectly normal—and since she knew it would happen sooner or later, Monica had to be mentally prepared. Otherwise, being surprised every time she heard about their plans would be far too...immature.
"Yes, I understand." After Yang Hao finished speaking, Monica lowered her head, indicating her compliance with Yang Hao's plan. "Then, should I go and bring that person out?"
"No, not for now, because it's unclear whether the thing inside that person's stomach is tied to his life. Once the person dies, the evidence in the box will be destroyed... But it seems the people of United City aren't very ethical either. At most, they'll sell the person along with the life support device, but how to get the contents out is still up to us."
“That’s how it is.” Lord Kosiché, standing to the side, simply smiled at Yang Hao’s complaints. “I’ve seen this kind of trick many times—but it’s also a key point where we can negotiate for a discount. My dear, if you’re unwilling to waste expensive resources on the United City, we must make good use of these key points.”
"yes..."
The two adults chatted for a little while longer, and then they said that their work for the day was done.
.....
While the two lords of the Duchy of Kosiché were killing time, preparing to tease the politicians of the United City for a while longer to gain even greater benefits, far away in the Duchy of Nikolai, the ponies, after their petition was denied—and denied in a way that seemed to concern their safety—were not idle; instead, they were diligently searching for anything suspicious.
Their recent achievements have been quite remarkable. They have not only gained complete knowledge of all the routes of the landships transporting military equipment, but they also know every single person on board. For example, Mars knows that the captain of the landship called "Alpha" by the ponies of the Creed is a sentimental, unfortunate man who lost his wife and children to starvation in the Duke of Nikolai and has given up on himself. His ship has 200 soldiers and 400 support personnel who are rebellious against Duke Nikolai, but faced with over 400 of Duke Nikolai's personal guards and the monsters known as "Flesh Puppets" guarding them, even if they wanted to escape, it would be futile.
"Those 400 guards are definitely unlucky guys who were controlled by mental Originium Arts, and they must have eaten people! Otherwise, how could they look so strong?"
"What if Duke Nikolai only distributes the highly nutritious food to his own people?"
"Damn it, the most nutritious food in Duke Nikolai's territory is human beings! Aren't you just confirming this even more radically than I am?! And don't those snake scales also confirm what Duke Nikolai did?"
While everyone was making a ruckus, Theresa simply stared blankly from the sidelines. She knew that what her sisters were talking about was nothing more than intelligence they had already gathered in cooperation with Serpent Scales, and they basically had corresponding measures in place to ensure the safety of future operations.
Taking the Alpha landship as an example, as long as the Serpent Scales and the Creed's ponies join forces to eliminate the personal guards and flesh puppets on the landship, then the group of soldiers who hate Duke Nikolai to the bone but have to continue working on the ship because only they have the corresponding professional skills will immediately rebel and flee in panic towards the Dukedom of Kosiché with the communication code given to them by the Creed.
But there's a problem.